


My Lover Stands On Golden Sand

by jacobperalta



Category: Glee
Genre: Day At The Beach, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Quinn and Sam are best of friends, they're just happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24665845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacobperalta/pseuds/jacobperalta
Summary: The Fabray-Berrys spend a day on the beach with their friends tanning, playing sports and having fun because what else could you want?
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray, Sam Evans/Jesse St. James, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce
Comments: 7
Kudos: 106





	My Lover Stands On Golden Sand

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm back with another domestic one-shot lmao. I hope you guys are enjoying this kind of fic because lately, I've just been really enjoying writing a glimpse into their lives and just writing them being happy. Sometimes, you just want a break from angst and read established relationship, no? So I hope you guys enjoy this one. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of the characters in this story.

Quinn wakes up because of a hand running through her hair and she releases a content sigh, leaning into the hand. 

“Baby.”

“Hm,” she moans with her eyes still closed. She still feels pretty tired so she’s pretty sure it’s still way too early and Rachel usually knows she likes to wake up late so she doesn’t understand why she’s waking her up right now.

“Baby, you gotta get up.”

“Mm why?” she mumbles, face pressed against the pillow. 

“It’s beach day,” Rachel says and it sparks something up in Quinn. They’ve been planning beach day for a long time now. It had been Rachel’s idea because she wanted to do something different than just go out to the bar every time they hung out so she had proposed they go to the beach and everyone had agreed easily. They found the first day off they could all find and that day was today. 

Quinn finally opens one eye and she’s met with Rachel looking down at her and still stroking her hair and instantly, a soft smile spreads across Quinn’s face.

“Hey beautiful,” she says. “What time is it?”

Rachel turns her head to look at the clock on the wall, “Just after seven. I already took my shower so it’s free for you to use.”

Quinn pouts, “What’s the point of being married if my wife takes her showers without me?” 

Rachel chuckles and fakes offence, “I hope you married me for more reasons than just showers together.” 

“Not really,” the blonde says and Rachel rolls her eyes, tickling her waist and Quinn squirms away laughing quietly.

“Cmon, we need to be out of here at 8 because we agreed to meet at 9.”

The blonde stifles a yawn and she stretches her limbs as Rachel watches her with a tender look on her face that morphs into disgust when Quinn cracks her neck a couple of times and the blonde chuckles. “You know we’ll be the first ones there right? Do you even know our friends?”

“I am aware,” Rachel says with a hint of exasperation in her tone, “but that’s no reason for _us_ to be late.” 

“Ugh, why am the one that got stuck with you? I could’ve gotten with Brittany or--” she’s cut off when Rachel jabs a finger in her hip and pouts. 

“Hey.”

Quin chuckles and sits up to wrap her arms lazily around Rachel’s waist, “I’m just kidding. I love you.” The girl in her arms just continues her pouting, looking away and pretending she didn’t hear what she said. The blonde chuckles and starts kissing Rachel’s jaw until she nips on her earlobe and the girl giggles and pulls away. “Hey, I love you” she repeats.

“Yeah?

“Yeah,” Quinn says softly, brushing hair out of Rachel’s face. “That’s why I proposed to you two years ago and you love me too since you said yes if I recall correctly.”

“Quinn Fabray, are you saying we’re married?”

The blonde rolls her eyes, “Shut up. And that’s Quinn Fabray-Berry now.”

“Hm,” Rachel says, tracing Quinn’s jawline with her finger, “Sounds pretty.”

“I’m quite fond of it. Have been for the past year and a half.”

Rachel smiles and pecks her lips quickly. “I love you too, darling. Go take a shower. I’ll pack the lunch.” 

Quinn nods, taking the covers of her lap and Rachel gives her another kiss and Quinn doesn't let her pull away after a second, deepening the kiss and her wife relaxes into it. The blonde swipes her bottom lip and she’s about to make Rachel lay down on the bed when they hear scratching on the door and the blonde pulls away with a groan because she knows her wife is gonna want to let him in. 

Rachel smiles and as soon as she opens the door, a golden ball of fur sprints into the room and jumps on the bed and paws dig into her chest, forcing her to lay down again. Her wife giggles as she feels a wet tongue lick her cheek and she tries to squirm away. 

“Fiyero baby, let mommy breathe” Rachel speaks to the 3 month old puppy, taking him in her arms. 

Quinn wipes her cheek in disgust and sits up to lean on her arms to look at the dog, happily wiggling in the brunette’s arms. They got the golden retriever over a few months ago at a rescue shelter that Rachel had convinced her to go to and they had both fallen in love with the puppy eyes they were given him and in a spurt of the moment decision, they brought him home. Quinn had never really considered herself a dog person before she looked into his brown eyes that oddly reminded her of her wife’s eyes so there was no way she could have said no honestly. 

She ruffles the fur on top of his head lovingly. “We’re gonna have a good day at the beach, huh boy?” she says and it’s as though he can understand what she says because his tail waggles in excitation. She kisses Rachel’s hairline one last time and then finally gets out of bed to go take a shower. 

“Let’s go have breakfast, baby boy” she hears Rachel say and then she hears four little paws running across their place to get to the kitchen. She smiles to herself and takes her clothes off after opening the shower to let the water heat up. It always takes a minute or two to heat up which is one of the inconvenience of their new apartment. They moved in this place when they were 25, a little bit after Rachel won her first Tony and they had been dating for 5 years. They got married last year, after 7 years of dating and if Quinn was honest with herself, she could have proposed 6 months after they started dating and they were still in college because she always knew Rachel was the one for her. Still, she waited and life got in the way what with Rachel getting on Broadway and Quinn getting a book deal so they decided to wait a bit. 

The proposal didn’t really happen the way Quinn had expected it to. She had bought the ring when she was 26 and she was waiting until the right moment, maybe even planning on doing it on their trip to Paris that was coming up that year but one day, she was in a meeting with some editors of the book agency she worked at and Rachel had called and she declined the call with a “ _sorry about that, it’s my wife I’ll call her back after_ .” Her eyes had widened and for the rest of the day, she couldn’t think of anything else but the way wife rolled off her tongue so easily when they weren’t even married yet. That day, she came back home and when Rachel came to greet her, Quinn didn’t even say anything. She just fished the ring out of her purse and dropped down on one knee in front of her girlfriend. The blonde had only managed to say “ _will you_ ” before Rachel started shouting _yes_ a dozen times and cupped her face to kiss her. 

Then they had gotten married on a beach a couple of months after. A beautiful ceremony with Rachel’s dads, Quinn’s mom, everyone from the glee club and everyone else they considered close to them. Sam had been her best man obviously since he’s been her best friend for the past 10 years or so and he had pretty much cried the entire time. It was a great wedding, the best Quinn could have asked for. The honeymoon was spent on Maui because it had always been Rachel’s dream to go to Hawaii and they had spent the most wonderful days in paradise where Rachel tanned gorgeously and Quinn got sun burn after sun burn. 

The same thing was probably going to happen today. 

She gets out of the shower and sees that the group chat they have is blowing up with texts and she clicks on it to be instantly faced with a picture of Sam in a speedo. She groans, pulling a face of disgust. 

**Quinn:**  
Jesus Christ Sham, nobody wants to see that.

**Jesse:**

I think it’s sexy.

**Santana:**

Yeah of course YOU would. I can’t believe Trouty forced me to see this with my own two lesbian eyes. 

**Brittany:**

Sammy, please don’t wear that.

**Sam:**

You guys are mean :(

**Quinn:**

Jesse, if your dumbass boyfriend comes to the beach wearing this, you’re both banned from our group hang outs. 

**Rachel:**

Hey, only Sam will be banned. Don’t bring Jesse in this. 

**Jesse:**

Thanks Rach :)

**Sam:**

Quinnie, why aren’t you nice to me like that?

**Quinn:**

Because you don’t deserve it. Now change your swimsuit. 

She puts her phone down with a smile and starts gathering her and Rachel’s swimsuits so they can change into them. She grabs everything they’ll need for the day like sunscreen, beach towels, phone chargers and a speaker. When she’s done, she moves to the kitchen where Rachel is cooing at their dog with a half eaten toast in her hand. 

“Hey sweetie,” Quinn calls out to not spook her and Rachel turns to her with a smile. She walks past Fiyero and she hears his little paws follow after her as she grabs the cup of coffee her wife made for her. “Hey baby,” she says in a baby voice, bending down a little and the dog jumps a couple of times to rest his paws on her calves. 

“I’m excited.” Rachel says after swallowing her bite and the blonde nods. 

“Me too. We haven’t seen them in so long.”

“Well it’s a demanding job being a famous Broadway star,” Rachel teases and Quinn chuckles, taking a seat next to her.

“So humble. If Sham brings his speedo, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Rachel lets out a laugh, “He only did that to annoy you.”

“It’s working,” Quinn mutters and Rachel nudges her with her shoulder. 

“He’s your best friend.”

“I don’t know why sometimes.”

The brunette rolls her eyes and gets up to put her plate in the sink, “I have a very drunk you on tape hugging Sam and angrily telling him how much you love him and how important he is to you. Do you want me to use it against you again?” 

Quinn gasps dramatically, putting a hand on her heart. “Rachel Fabray-Berry, how dare you?” Rachel giggles, shaking her head and Quinn continues. “I still can’t believe you sent him that video. He sends it to me about once a month, it’s torture.” 

“Oh yeah I bet it’s so hard being reminded that you actually love Sam.”

The blonde rolls her eyes with a hint of a smile on her face. The video is almost 3 years old but somehow, is still brought up pretty often. It’s a video taken on Halloween night when she wa 24, she was dressed as the phantom of the opera because somehow Rachel had convinced her to do it. She had the mask on the back of her head and dressed in a fancy tux and she was having a very heated argument with Sam dressed as Green Lantern. At first you can’t hear what’s happening and you only see Quinn brandishing her finger at the boy but then Rachel gets closer with the camera and you can clearly hear her say “ _Shut the fuck up, I love you so much you have no fucking idea. You’re like-- You’re like my brother and I wouldn’t be as happy as I am today without you._ ” Sam instantly dives into her arms, hiding his face in her neck and she hugs him back tightly and you can hear Rachel’s giggling from behind the camera. She doesn’t even remember what possessed her to do that but Sam and Rachel love bringing that video up all the time. 

“I started packing our things in the bedroom,” Quinn remarks. “You can check the list to make sure I’m not forgetting anything.” Because of course there’s a list that Rachel made of what to bring. It’s kind of adorable really, how much her wife likes to be prepared for things. Besides, she’s pretty sure Santana and Sam are going to forget the essentials so they need to be ready for them too. Quinn jokes about it but she really struck gold with Rachel. She can’t even put in words how happy she is that they were able to move past all of the high school bullshit and learn to be real friends in college. Things easily turned romantic and it’s been the most amazing 7 years of her life. 

Rachel nods, standing on her tiptoes to kiss the side of Quinn’s head and then disappears into the bedroom, Fiyero following her at a fast speed. The blonde puts away the dishes quickly and joins Rachel in the bedroom. When she walks in, the brunette is trying to tie her bathing suit from behind and Quinn bites her lip with a smirk, admiring her wife. The orange bathing suit looks beautiful on her tanned skin and even after all the years, the blonde is still so attracted to Rachel’s perfect body. 

“Let me do it,” she says in a soft voice and walks around Fiyero who’s bouncing to get their attention and she stands behind the girl to tie it. When she’s done, she wraps her arms around her waist and kisses her shoulder and she hears a content sigh leave her wife’s lips. Rachel rests her hands on top of Quinn’s, leaning into her and they stay like that for a couple of seconds just enjoying each other.

“I love you.” Rachel says after a moment.

Quinn smiles against her skin and presses another tender kiss. “I love you too. So much.”

The diva turns around so they can face each other and the blonde’s eyes instantly drop down to look at her wife’s body and she fixates maybe a little too long on her chest because Rachel chuckles, putting a finger under her chin. “Pervert.”

Quinn bites her bottom lip, winking and pecks her wife’s lips before moving to change into her swimsuit too. Rachel puts on short shorts and a tank top on top and Quinn puts on one of crop top on top of her red swimsuit. When she turns, Rachel looks at her from head to toe and the blonde smiles smugly when the brunette instantly reaches to touch her abs-- abs that she works very hard for-- and she shivers at the girl’s cold fingers. 

“God, how did I get so lucky?” Rachel says and it makes Quinn’s heart skip a beat. To think that her wife feels as lucky as she feels every day makes her feel over the moon. She can’t put into words how grateful she is that the girl gave her a second chance (well maybe it’s considered a fourth chance at this point) and their story led to this. Who knew one email from Rachel could have changed their lives forever? Where would they be if Quinn hadn’t answered Rachel’s kind email that asked her how she was doing since the beginning of the semester? Quinn would have never made that trip to New York that led to so many trips back and forth from New York to New Haven and vice versa. 

“I ask myself the same question everyday,” Quinn says sincerely and the brunette looks up to make eye contact. She cups Quinn’s cheek lovingly and strokes it with her thumb. The blonde turns her head to the side so she can kiss the inside of her palm and right as she’s about to say something else, Rachel looks at the time and jumps.

“We need to hurry!” she says before running to the bathroom and Quinn watches her go with a chuckle.

She looks down at the floor and bends down to pick up the golden retriever, “Mama’s lucky we love her so much, aren’t we?” she asks him and he licks her nose in response so she takes it as a yes.

“I heard that!” 

“Good!”

She grabs the last things they need for the day and texts Sam quickly to make sure he’s not going to forget the things he’s supposed to bring. He texts back instantly.

**Sham:**

Got you sis!! 

“Alright hon, the taxi is here.” Rachel says and Quinn swings the bag around her shoulder, grabbing her sunglasses. “Up” she calls out at their puppy and Fiyero jumps into her arms easily because they spent _a lot_ of money to have him trained properly. She ignores the way he’s licking her jawline and joins Rachel at the entrance who’s holding their lunch. 

The ride to Rockaway beach is kind of long because it’s a beautiful summer day so New Yorkers are out on the streets like crazy and there’s a lot of traffic but they manage to make it in time (which means 15 minutes early for Rachel). Besides, the taxi driver was playing some Frank Sinatra so Quinn wouldn't complain about that; his songs always get her in a good mood. Even though it’s still fairly early, the beach is already packed with a lot of people and it takes them a few minutes of walking to find a spot big enough for when the rest of the gang gets here. Knowing how their friends act, they’re going to make a mess and they can’t be too close to other people. Quinn swears her friends still think they’re 16 sometimes by the way they act and nobody could guess they’re almost 30. 

They work in silence as Quinn pushes down the umbrella in the sand and Rachel lays down a couple of blankets on the ground. When they’re done, her wife takes off her shirt and silently hands her the sunscreen and it takes a good 10 seconds before the blonde takes her eyes off the girl’s body to smother some cream on Rachel’s back and then Rachel does the same to her. After applying at least three coats because she knows how easily she burns, Quinn finally lays down on her stomach next to the brunette and Fiyero cuddles up to her side. 

“It’s really hot out.” Rachel states, eyes squinting because of the sun.

“Not as hot as you.”

Rachel scoffs with a smile. “Smooth talker.” 

Quinn chuckles, leaning on her elbows. “This was a really good idea.”

Rachel looks at her. “Right? We needed to do something else than just drink in a bar once a month,” she says with a laugh. 

She looks at their puppy who’s digging a hole and reaches to wipe the sand off his nose. “Don’t eat the sand, okay baby?” she says but he ignores her, continuing to dig. Rachel moves closer to her and the blonde instantly turns to look at her. She thinks there’s no way Rachel could be in the room and Quinn wouldn’t know about it, she just always has had a sixth sense to detect when the diva is here, it was there even in high school when Quinn was a repressed teenager who couldn’t admit she found Rachel pretty. 

“Hey.”

“Hey you,” Quinn replies with a teasing smile. 

“I love you.”

The blonde’s heart flutters and she bends down to press a chaste kiss on her wife’s lips. “I love you too. So much,” she says when they pull away. “Where does that come from?”

Rachel smiles, brushing blonde locks out of her face. “I’m just happy,” she says shifting so she can lay on her stomach too. “I look at my life and I’m just happy.”

The words make Quinn softens and the butterflies in her stomach go crazy. “You deserve all of it, baby. I’m happy because you’re happy.”

“I just--” Rachel stars and she takes a breath to gather her thoughts. “I’ve always had this certain view of the life I wanted, you know? A Tony, being on Broadway-- but the fact that I _got_ that plus this wonderful person who supports me and pushes me forward means a lot to me.” She pauses but Quinn knows she’s not done so she stays silent, reaching for Fiyero and rubbing his tummy. “And I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished and I still can’t believe you chose me to spend the rest of your days with.” 

The blonde smiles tenderly, “I love you, Rach. I wake up everyday and I don’t even have the words to express how happy I am you emailed me that one time.” She points to Rachel’s wedding ring and licks her lips. “You deserve everything that’s happened to you and more. Our life together is just beginning. I’m gonna turn wrinkly and grey but my heart will only beat for you,” she affirms and Fiyero head butts her and forces them to put some distance between them so he can have their attention. Rachel giggles and kisses his fur before reaching across to kiss her.

Rachel takes Quinn’s bottom lip between hers and kisses her tenderly and it must be the thousandth time they kiss but it still makes the blonde feel like the very first time they kissed in Rachel’s bed in her old apartment when Quinn was over for the weekend. Rachel swipes her bottom lip with her tongue at the same time that Fiyero starts barking in excitation and he digs his paws into Quinn’s back. He sprints off in a direction only to be stopped by his leash and the blonde turns her head to see Sam holding his sandals in one hand and a bag in the other running in their puppy’s direction. He nearly trips but he steadies himself, dropping down on his knees to start scratching Fiyero’s ears. Jesse is way behind, taking his time to walk to them with sunglasses on his nose, looking like a celebrity who doesn’t want to be bothered and it makes Quinn snort. 

“Oh that’s a good boy,” Sam coos to Fiyero with a happy smile. The dog bounces happily because he adores the hell out of Sam and licks his face. “That’s right. Hey Fire.”

Rachel sighs loudly so Sam can hear him and sits up. “Quit calling him Fire. His name’s Fiyero.”

Without even looking away from the dog, the boy replies “Yeah no. That’s a stupid name.”

Quinn snorts and Rachel glares at her so she pecks her lips at the same time that Jesse finally gets here. 

“Hey gays,” he says, putting down the bags next to theirs and dropping down next to Rachel. He leans in and kisses Rachel’s cheek and she smiles at him. 

“Hey Jess, how was the ride up?”

“Traffic is a bitch,” he mutters as Sam finally sits down next to Quinn, Fiyero instantly jumping on his lap. 

“Hey y’all,” he says, reaching to mess up Quinn’s hair and she groans, doing the same thing to him. He laughs and sticks out his tongue while Rachel and Jesse watches them with judgment. 

Quinn glances them at his pink shorts with watermelons on them. “Thanks for not wearing the speedo.”

Jesse is the one that answers. “You have me to thank for that. I knew your threat of not joining group hangouts was serious.”

Quinn laughs while Sam rolls his eyes. “Whatever. You just knew all the girls and boys would be after me if I wore it.”

Jesse scoffs. “Please, I wouldn’t have felt threatened. Have you seen your boyfriend?” he says gesturing to himself and the two girls let out a laugh. 

Fiyero yaps and moves to Rachel’s lap and Sam pouts. 

“Thought you liked me, Fire,” he says and then turns to Quinn. “How’s the water?”

“Dunno. Haven’t checked it out yet.”

“You wanna go?” 

She nods and he stands up, holding out a hand to help her stand and she takes it. Sam looks at the two still sitting in question and they just shake their head in answer so he shrugs, taking off his shirt in one swift move and he starts to run suddenly. “Last one there is the loser!” 

She instantly sprints off and follows him, zigzagging between the different groups of people and he makes it to the water first because he _cheated_ but a second later she’s reached him and stumbles into him as they both try to stop. The water is freezing but Sam laughs it off and grabs Quinn’s shoulders to try to make her fall and she holds on to him steadily. They wrestle for a few minutes and Sam steps backwards so he can charge forward again but he trips on something and Quinn watches as his eyes widen and a second later, he’s completely submerged in the water. His head shoots up and he shakes his head like a dog while Quinn is laughing loudly, holding her stomach. 

He wipes the water out of his eyes and then gets a dangerous look in his eyes. Quinn barely has time to process what’s going on before he grabs her leg and pulls on it so she falls backwards. She manages to hold her breath in time because half a second later, her head is under the freezing water. She comes back to the surface with a gasp and he’s standing next to her still laughing. 

“I won.”

“Shut up you dick. You cheated.”

He chuckles and lends her a hand to help her up, “It’s fucking freezing,” he says and she nods in agreement, her lips shivering a little. She looks back at their little camp and sees Rachel and Jesse conversing as Fiyero chews on one of his bone. 

“Did you bring something we can throw around?”

“I brought a football and a frisbee.”

She nods and jogs back to the land so she can grab something. She drips water as she walks and accidently brings a lot of sand on the towels and Rachel whines.

“Sorry babe,” Quinn chuckles and flicks her hair on purpose so it gets on the two actors. They both groan in unison which makes Quinn roll her eyes. These two are way too similar for comfort. 

“How’s the water?” 

“Fuckin’ freezing.” Quinn answers Jesse distractly while digging into Sam’s bag. 

“Language,” Rachel says in a bored tone. 

Quinn finds the football and grabs it, pecking her wife’s lips quickly before running off again. She finds Sam in the water while he’s trying to float on his back and failing miserable and she throws the football right next to him so it splashes him. He looks up in surprise and grins when he sees her running to him. 

They throw the ball back and forth in silence for a couple minutes before Sam breaks it.

“Jess and I watched the Grey’s Anatomy episode that Rachel was in last night.”

Quinn grins as she catches the football. “She was good in it, right? They let me hang around the set last year when they filmed. It was really cool.”

“Is she gonna do more TV appearances?” 

“Maybe. We talked about it and she said she really liked doing it so maybe from time to time. I think her heart still belongs to Broadway though.”

Sam nods, catching the football easily with one hand and he throws it swiftly. “What about you? How’s the script coming along?”

“It’s almost done. Still kinda wild to me that people liked my book so much they want to see it on the big screen.”

“It’s a good book,” he says with a kind smile and she keeps the ball in her hands a couple of seconds and nods.

“Thanks man,” she says and throws it back. “How’s the game coming along?”

“We’re about halfway done. It’s my first time overseeing a project this big so I’m still kind of nervous but I think we’re all doing really good. The graphics are insane.”

Quinn smiles proudly at her friend. She knows how much this project is important to him since he’s played video games for forever and actually getting to make one has always been one of his dreams. “That’s great.”

Quinn throws the football a little bit too much to the left and he throws himself in the water to catch it and she laughs at him when he goes back to the surface, coughing up water.

“You know, I bet I would’ve been a kickass surfer in another life.”

Quinn barks out a laugh. “Yeah right.”

“I’m serious!” Sam says and he even stops throwing the ball so he can look at her while saying so. “I bet you could have been too. Imagine the two of us, just surfing.”

He finally throws it and she catches it with a smirk. “I would be a hot surfer.” 

“Well duh, me too.”

She stops when she hears a faint call and turns to the beach where she sees Rachel waving her over and she sees that Santana and Brittany arrived.

Sam throws the ball in the air as they walk back to their little camp and Brittany squeals when she takes her attention off Fiyero and runs to hug them, not even caring that they’re wet. Quinn hugs Brittany back tightly because you can’t not hug her back and when the bubbly blonde moves to Sam, Rachel hands her a towel with a smile. Quinn thanks her and wraps it around herself, nodding at Santana.

“Hey San.”

“Sup Fabgay,” Santana answers, crouching so she can caress Fiyero’s fur. The puppy’s is wagging his tail happily with all the people around him and Quinn smiles at him. He’s so adorable, even Santana can’t pretend he’s not the cutest dog in the world.

They settle back down after everyone greeted each other and Quinn grabs Rachel, forcing her to sit between her legs and the woman giggles when her back touches Quinn’s cold front but she stays there. The blonde kisses her shoulder before resting her chin on it and Jesse hands each of them Coke.

“What kinda bullshit is this?” Santana complains even though she still opens the can.

“They don’t allow alcohol on this beach.” Jesse shrugs.

“So you guys brought me to this stupid beach in Queens out of all places just so--”

“Santana,” Quinn cuts her off with a stern glare. “Shut up.”

The latina rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her drink. Brittany kisses her cheek and instantly the scowl in Santana’s face disappears and melts into a smile. Fiyero walks around them like he’s trying to decide who he wants to cuddle next to since he has so many options and he decides on Sam who looks overjoyed by that.

“Hey Fire!” he says, patting his back and the dog yaps like he’s saying hi back. Rachel opens her mouth to speak but Quinn just tightens her hold around her waist and kisses her ear affectionately and the brunette melts into her. 

“So Jesse,” Brittany says. “Little Shops’s run is over now. What’s next?”

He looks at his boyfriend and then back to Brittany. “I don’t know honestly. I’m gonna keep auditioning for stuff and see what turns up.”  
  


Sam smiles, grabbing his hand. “I keep telling him it’s fine to take a break once in a while but he’s not listening to me.”

Quinn snorts, “I get that. This one is the same,” she says, gesturing to the girl in her arms and Rachel slaps her thigh.

Santana rolls her eyes, “The fact that the blondies are boy and girl versions of each other and I can say the same about those two dumb divas over there and you guys ended up dating is a lot,” she says gesturing between Rachel and Quinn and Jesse and Sam. Brittany smiles like she just realized what Santana said is true while everyone rolls their eyes. Santana shrugs, “I guess no one can be like my wife and I, you guys had to settle.”

“Please,” Quinn scoffs. “I had you for a night and I managed to find better easily.”

Rachel turns her head to look at Quinn and winks at her and the blonde closes the distance between them to kiss her. Ever the cockblock, Fiyero shoots out of Sam’s lap and jumps on Rachel’s. He seems to like doing that every single time they try to have a moment.

“If you think the midget is better than m--”

“Actually I always wondered what Rachel is like in bed,” Brittany says absently and everyone turns to her in shock. Brittany looks back at them with an innocent expression. “What? It’s true. Those legs, I mean--”

“Alright!” Quinn and Santana interrupt her at the same time while Sam and Jesse start laughing hysterically. Quinn tightens her hold on her wife and Rachel chuckles a little after winking at Brittany. 

“On that note,” Jesse says standing up. “I’m gonna go in the water.” Sam, energetic as a dog, stands up eagerly and wraps his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders. Jesse kisses his cheek as Brittany and Rachel stands up to join them as well. Her wife throws her a look and Quinn waves a hand.

“Nah, I’ll stay here. You go.”

Brittany mimics Sam and Jesse and wraps her arm around Rachel’s shoulder, given them a wink and Quinn and Santana watches them walk to the beach with Fiyero trotting happily next to them.

Quinn moves away from the shade so she can be a little more under the sun and Santana lays down next to her, both of them on their stomachs. Santana puts on music on the speaker, not to loud because Rachel is in the water right now but when she comes back, they don’t want to attract too much attention because she gets recognized every once in a while now. They both sigh at the same time and stay in silence as they both relax. It’s always been easy hanging out with Santana and she liked that. The two of them are similar in so many ways that Quinn doesn’t exactly match with when she hangs out with Rachel or Sam for example. Santana and her have always been able to just hang out in silence and still have a good time.

“Remember when we used to do this all the time?” Quinn says after a while. “How many hours have we spent by my pool just tanning?”

Santana chuckles and Quinn can see the nostalgia in her eyes. “Yeah, God. Thank fuck your parents were never home to see what we were up to.”

It’s the blonde turn to let out a laugh. “Maybe if you didn’t bring booze all the time, we wouldn’t have done half the stuff we’ve done.”

“What would’ve been the fun in that?” Santana shots back. “Still can’t believe it took you that long to figure out you were a lesbian when you were out there kissing Brittany like that when you were wasted.”

“Fuck off,” Quinn says, shoving the latina on the shoulder.

Santana laughs for a few seconds and when she calms down, she sighs happily. “We had some good times. I miss that big ass house and that pool heater.”

“Hm,” Quinn says. “The happiest moments I’ve spent in that house were certainly with you guys. Not my parents.”

“Fuck Russell, though. And your mom’s supportive now, isn’t she?”

Quinn nods, thinking of how hard it had been for her mom to accept the fact that she was gay and was going to spend the rest of her life with a woman but she didn’t want to lose Quinn again so she did everything she could to come to terms with it. Their relationship is good now, at least by Fabray standards. 

“What would you change if you could go back to that time?”

Santana snorts. “You getting philosophical on me, Fabray?”

“Shut up.”

Santana hums for a second, like she’s thinking of her answer. “I wouldn’t have broken up with Brittany. I was devastated for months after it and a part of me always knew I’d never find anyone like her. Would have saved us a lot of time if I hadn’t broken up with her.”

Quinn nods, taking the answer in. Then, she smirks. “But if you hadn’t, we wouldn’t have gotten it on.”

Santana laughs and nods a couple of times. “Worth it, I guess. What about you, though? What would you change?”

Quinn sighs heavily. There’s so many things she would do differently and that she regrets. The list goes on and on. The pregnancy, the cheating, the Skank phase, trying to take Beth back, the car accident. “I guess… I would have tried to focus on myself more. When I came to McKinley as Quinn for the first time, I was her for other people, you know what I mean? I was just doing what other people wanted me to do. I wish I had been the person I am today, instead of this fake persona I built.”

“So gay as fuck?” 

Quinn laughs and nudges Santana in the shoulder again. She watches Rachel on Jesse’s back flicking water at Brittany who is on Sam’s back and Fiyero swimming next to them and thinks of how good she has it now, how happy she is. “Just more myself, you know.”

“Yeah.” Santana says sincerely. “I know.” 

They fall back into a comfortable silence and Quinn almost falls asleep because of how comfortable she is but she suddenly feels water drip into her back and looks up to see Sam attaching Fiyero on his leash again. His paws are covered in sand and Quinn already dreads the moment she’s gonna have to give him a bath. 

“Hey ladies,” he says in a flirty tone and the two girls roll their eyes at the same time. Santana wipes some sand off her forearms and stands up.  
  
“I’m gonna join the others.”

Quinn watches her for a second before sitting up, cracking her back. Sam settles next to her with a bag of cut up vegetables and he offers her some. He then picks up his guitar that she didn’t even see he brought and starts playing with the chords a little and Quinn bops along. 

She wishes she could explain what happens in the next 15 minutes, but when Rachel and Jesse come back to their camp, they both stop in shock at what’s happening. Sam’s body is completely buried in the sand, with only his head popping out and Quinn is currently making the sand look like he’s a mermaid. The blonde boy squints his eyes at them because of the brightness and winks. 

“What’s up?”

Rachel stammers a little and Jesse answers for her, “What the fuck is happening here?”

“Making Sham a mermaid,” Quinn replies, getting back to her task. She’s almost finished with the tail and she has to admit, she’s doing a good job.

“Sweetie, why?” she hears her wife say. 

“Because I want to be beautiful,” Sam replies and Quinn laugh, patting where his stomach should be. “Quinnie, don’t forget to give me boobs,” he comments and she instantly gets on it. 

“This is your boyfriend,” Rachel says dryly walking past them.

“My boyfriend? This is your _wife_ , Rachel.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Hey!” Quinn and Sam say at the same time and the two Broadway actors laugh at them. The two blondes frown their eyebrows at the same time and Rachel laughs and kisses Quinn briefly. Sam looks expectantly at Jesse and the curly boy scoffs. 

“No way,” but it’s not surprise that the puppy eyes Sam gives him work and seconds later, he bends down to kiss his boyfriend. 

When Sam’s mermaid is finished, Quinn takes a lot of picture of him, already impatient to post them on his birthday this year. Rachel also reluctantly takes picture of Quinn next to her masterpiece and Santana and Brittany arrive at the moment they’re taking a picture where Quinn is holding one of the boobs and Santana rolls her eyes. The blonde girl just becomes a little bit more goofy (maybe stupid is a more accurate word) when she’s with Sam, she’s not sure why. 

Brittany claps and joins the picture with a huge grin and Rachel finally admits that it’s pretty funny so by the end of it, everyone is admiring the mermaid. Even Fiyero seems to like it by the way he keeps licking Sam’s face. It’s also pretty funny to see the blonde boy have to suffer the puppy’s wrath cause his hands are buried in the sand. Everyone is laughing loudly, Quinn almost in tears, as they watch him try to move his head the best he can. 

“Fire-- Fire stop! Stop-- Fuck someone take him!” 

Rachel crosses her arms, “Call him by his name.”

“No.”

“Then you’re on your own.”

“Fine! Fiye-- Fiyero!”

Rachel takes the puppy who barks a few times and she shushes him. “It’s okay baby, mama’s here. “

The latina gags, “God, I’m scared of the way you guys will be with your actual children if this is how your treat a dog.” 

“Shut up, San.” Quinn says, caressing the dog who’s trying to lightly bite her finger. 

Jesse digs Sam out his cocoon and after they go clean him up in the water, they decide to play a game of volleyball. Blondes vs brunettes. Quinn is smug as Sam and Brittany settle next to her because the three of them have played lots of sports all their lives. Quinn with cheerleading and soccer, Brittany with cheerleading and dancing and Sam with football, baseball and soccer. They got this in the bag. The brunettes are competitive but so are the blondes. 

About halfway through the game, Quinn realizes she might have underestimated how good the other team would be and as it is really hot outside, she’s sweating profusely. The sun is beaming down on them and she can already feel the sun burn on her neck but she doesn’t slack off and neither do Brittany and Sam. Unfortunately, Rachel, Santana and Jesse seem to have the same mindset.

Sam jumps in the air to smack the ball but Rachel jumps in to block it at the last second and the ball hits the ground between Brittany and Quinn. Her wife sticks out her tongue at Quinn, hair clinging to her forehead because of the sweat.

“Well played, Berry” Quinn says teasingly.

“That’s Fabray-Berry,” she replies easily and gets back into position with a determined look on her face.

God, her wife is hot. 

They end up winning 25-23 which is way closer than Quinn expected the score to be but she should learn by now to never underestimate Rachel. Also, Jesse was way better at the game than she expected him to be. Still they won and the blondes rub it in their faces happily.

The rest of the day is spent tanning, singing because they wouldn’t be who they are without singing, throwing the frisbee with or without Fiyero (he really sucks at the game) and playing around in the water. Quinn and Rachel even get a moment together amidst all the chaos, much to the blonde’s pleasure. The two of them go in the water together, Rachel wrapping her legs around Quinn’s hips and they float a little, conversing lightly as married couples do. There’s also a little bit of kissing obviously, since Quinn is addicted to those sweet lips. 

When they’re all pretty tired and shriveled up, they decide to head back home. While Rachel is cleaning the sand out of Fiyero’s fur in the water, Quinn tells them all goodbye. She hugs Jesse briefly, reminds Santana and Brittany of their planned hang out at the end of the month and when she finally gets to her best friend, he takes her in his arms before she can say anything.

“Today was fun, sis. I missed you.”

“Okay weirdo,” she deadpans and he squeezes her tighter and she chuckles. “I missed you too, Sham. Come over whenever you want, okay?” 

He pulls away after kissing the side of his head, “Same for you. When you need a break of all the singing, just tell me and I’ll kick Jess out and we can play video games all night.”

Jesse scoffs and hits him in the shoulder and Sam winks at him. Rachel comes back and hands her Fiyero so she can tell everyone their goodbyes. The puppy licks her cheek a few times and when he sees she’s not giving him her attention, he just lays his head on her shoulder. She watches Rachel and Jesse kiss each other on the corner of their mouth (Quinn has learned a long time ago to not be jealous of these two-- she’ll just never understand their bond) and hug everyone else tightly. 

If you had told Quinn from ten years ago that her 27 year old self would still be hanging out with the same people she was hanging out with right now, she’d get mad at you because there’s nothing 17 year old Quinn wanted more than to get the hell away from Lima and start a new life. But here she is, with Rachel, Sam, Jesse, Santana and Brittany and somehow it makes sense. It makes sense because they’re the people who know her the most in this world and who have always been there for her at her best and at her worst. She wraps her arm around Rachel’s shoulder, kissing her temple tenderly and letting her lips stay there for a second more, breathing in the scent of her wife. 

“I love you,” she whispers and Rachel turns to her, with a loving look in her eyes. The way she’s look at Quinn for the past 7 years and the look the blonde will never get tired of.

“I love you too. So much.”

Quinn would tell her 17 year old self that she’s happy and that’s all that matters because for a long time, she thought she would never get to be. But she is-- she’s the happiest she’s ever been and she’s pretty sure it’s not going to go away any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked this! If you did, make sure to give it a kudos and leave a comment.
> 
> Find me on twitter: @chloebeaie


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